Dear Editor,
An interesting development is taking place in the United States which is downplayed by the mainstream media. That development is the hundreds of Americans who are converging on Wall Street to protest against what they referred to as corporate greed, that is the concentration of finance capital in the hands of a few resulting in a skewed distribution of wealth. With such high levels of income inequity it is not surprising that most Americans are forced to spend on borrowed money which is largely responsible for the housing bubble in the United States and the collapse of the banking system.
The gap in living standards between the rich and the poor is increasing with more and more Americans being forced onto the breadline. The number of US citizens who are forced to live on the dole has now reached unprecedented proportions without any short-term resolution in sight.
The Obama administration is fighting an uphill battle to convince the Republican dominated House that the solution to the crisis cannot be found in tax concessions for the rich but by taking more from the rich and spending it on the poor. This will have a much greater accelerator effect on the economy by stimulating consumer spending which is central to the recovery process.
The protest action on Wall Street is symptomatic of a new awakening by the American people that the issue of inequity and skewed distribution of income and wealth cannot be ignored by policy-makers and that it cannot be business as usual when so many people go hungry in the midst of plenty.
Yours faithfully,
Hydar Ally
